A key aspect of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) is that children have the right to express their views on matters that affect them (Article 12), and to have those views given due weight.
Article 12 is sometimes called the ‘right to be heard’. The UNCRC is applicable to every human being under 18 years old, but very often, babies and young children are overlooked in respect of their rights, and particularly in terms of being heard, due to their perceived lack of ‘voice’. Of course, babies communicate in a wide range of ways, including verbal voice (spoken word or otherwise) and non-verbal communications like movement, expression, action, sound, gestures and silences. However, these ways of communicating are not always taken seriously or included in discussions of rights.
In Scotland, where the UNCRC has recently been incorporated into domestic law, there has been an emerging discourse around the rights of babies and young children, and with that, there has been increasing interest in how their ‘voices’ (a term we use as shorthand for babies’ full range of communication) can be heard and included in participation. The Voice of the Infant Best Practice Guide and Infant Pledge shared by the Peri-Natal Infant Mental Health Programme Board at the Scottish Government, for example, was a step forward in practice for professionals across sectors encouraging the views of babies and young children to be taken seriously.
In 2022, responding to enquiries from professionals about ‘how to do participation’ with babies, Starcatchers, Scotland's arts and early years organisation, commissioned a research project, Voice of the Baby, to unpack how participating in arts activities, also a right under the UNCRC, could enable babies and young children, those who are pre-verbal or developing language, to exercise their right to be heard. This pioneering work is an important step in how babies and young children are considered and included in decision-making, and there is still much to be explored as we apply the learning from the research findings.
In this article we share the approach and findings from the work that has taken place so far, which includes the five areas of the Starcatchers Reflective Guide, a tool that can support professionals working with babies and young children (birth to three years old) to facilitate rights-based participatory practice through the arts. The research was carried out by Dr Rachel Drury (from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Dr Caralyn Blaisdell (at Queen Margaret University) and research assistant Claire Ruckert-Fagan (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). In considering this work, we focused on babies and young children, those from birth to three years old who were pre-verbal or developing language. However, it was acknowledged that there is scope in this work to understand how principles could be applied with older children who are non-verbal, who are also often excluded from being heard.
PHASE 1
The first phase of the project (which was supported by Cattanach and Interface), sought to interrogate existing knowledge and best practice through a scoping review of the literature, a survey conducted with Scottish-based arts practitioners and arts organisations and group interviews with Starcatchers artists and staff.
This phase gave a grounding to the work. It unpacked understanding and identified key themes or considerations such as: the integral role of parents/carers in supporting babies to be heard; and the meaningful, intuitive approach that artists took in their practice with babies and young children, ensuring their needs and interests were centred in a space that belongs to them. These key themes then informed the development of the next phase of activity.
PHASE 2
The aim of the second research phase (supported by Cattanach, Creative Scotland and the Charles Gordon Foundation) was to develop a tool that could be used by professionals from across sectors who are facilitating rights-based practice with babies and young children through participatory arts.
To do this, the researchers visited a series of Starcatchers creative play sessions taking place in different parts of Scotland, where they could observe babies, their significant adults and the Starcatchers artists when engaging and participating in arts activities.
The main method of data collection in Phase 2 was participant observation. The researchers spent time observing sessions, participating alongside the babies, adults and artists, and talking informally with the children and adults. Using a shared observation framework, rich descriptive notes were made after each visit. When analysing the data, the researchers applied a thematic approach to identify developing themes across the data. The researchers also held two artists ‘playdays’ with the Starcatchers artists to share findings and gather their feedback on the themes.
THE STARCATCHERS REFLECTIVE GUIDE FOR THE ARTS
The research resulted in the creation of the Starcatchers Reflective Guide for the Arts, which reflects the findings developed by the research team throughout Phase 2 and provides a guide for practitioners to embed rights-based approaches in the arts for those working with babies and young children. It is designed to be a reflective tool, something which can support all aspects of practice, from planning and session design to delivery and evaluation. The Guide is an evolving resource, incorporating learning from those who are using it to understand its application and ensure it remains responsive to the needs of practitioners and the babies, young children and significant adults they work with.
THE FIVE AREAS OF THE REFLECTIVE GUIDE
Curating the Space: Creating Permission for Play and Creativity
This theme relates to how the nature of the space itself, and the materials/experiences curated within it, create opportunities for babies’ voices to be heard and respected. For example, one session was themed around a tea party, with a variety of props like teacups, saucers, knitted cakes and doughnuts, a cake stand, etc. (and real tea and cake later in the session). Relaxing music played through a Bluetooth speaker. Because the spaces were so carefully curated to facilitate play and creativity, the physical environment often acted as the main driver of children's voices as they moved around the space (or indicated non-verbally that they wanted to be moved). The spaces also felt relaxed and unhurried.
Building Sensitive, Informed Relationships to Support Participation Rights
This theme relates to participation rights being made real in a web of affectionate, warm relationships with babies, their caregivers and the local area. For example, in more than one project, parents were greeted with a drink (a coffee, a mocktail), creating an affectionate feeling of being hosted. One mum seemed so grateful, we wondered how often she was hosted or provided for in this way. The artists mentioned that they wanted parents to feel comfortable and part of the experience and that by building sensitive relationships, parents could be supported to engage in creative play with their child. The artists also knew the local areas well and could adjust the artistic offering to what children might be experiencing in their everyday lives.
Respecting the Complex Communication of Babies
This theme relates to tuning in, interpreting and validating babies’ verbal and non-verbal communication of their views, feelings, ideas and wishes. For example, one artist, a beatboxer, demonstrated flexibility when the babies and toddlers were initially more interested in drumming and pre-recorded sound buttons than the beatboxing itself. He pivoted to beatboxing into the sound buttons with children and, later in the session, several babies used his iPad to mix sounds and borrowed his microphone to experiment with making sounds themselves. His flexibility and respect for babies’ communications created a rich opportunity for them to exercise agency and creativity.
Making Time for Young Children to Be Heard
This theme relates to various facets of time that supported babies’ meaningful participation in artistic experiences. For example, a relaxed approach to time within each session allowed babies to explore, and the experience to unfold, rather than being rushed. We also noticed a big difference in babies over the course of our project (developmental time), which will affect the ways they participate and communicate. Finally, we observed babies participating in managing the time in each session – for example, yawning and rubbing their eyes to indicate they were ready to leave.
Navigating Identity in Participation Rights
This theme relates to some potential tensions in the relationships that surrounded participatory practices, including the identity of the space, the intrusion of gender stereotypes, formation of in-groups/out-groups, and artistic identity. The artists told us that doing participation work could be tricky sometimes and that there are many open questions to navigate rather than clear answers.
KITE MODEL OF PARTICIPATION
As the Five Areas suggest, the right to be heard becomes real for babies through relationships – with their parent, caregiver and other significant adults, the artists and others in the space (such as other babies). The physical environment and the world outside the artistic experience also play an important role. Therefore, we have developed a Kite Model of Participation.
This Kite Model helped us visualise the different relationships that might come into play during participatory arts experiences for babies, including the ‘in the moment’ reciprocal interactions between those involved when working with babies and young children to enable them to participate fully.
NEXT STEPS: IMPLEMENTING THE REFLECTIVE GUIDE
To support the implementation of the Starcatchers reflective Guide, an In-Practice Resource has been developed by the organisation to help non-arts practitioners apply the model in their work with babies and young children. Dissemination of these resources has reached professionals from across arts, health, early education and voluntary sectors, demonstrating the breadth of interest in understanding how babies’ voices can be included.
Starcatchers is also applying the model in a range of projects and consultations, exploring the approach and how it can inform the development and delivery of activity that is centred around the needs and interests of babies and young children and enabling their voices to be heard.
CONCLUSION
The development of, and interest in, the Voice of the Baby research work has landed at a pivotal time in the children's rights discourse in Scotland and further afield. With interest from across the UK and internationally, the response to the findings from this research has demonstrated that there is a need to explore this work further in order to understand how babies and young children can have their rights respected, protected and fulfilled.
MORE INFORMATION
Starcatchers’ Reflective Guide: https://starcatchers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Voice-of-the-Baby-A-Reflective-Guide-for-the-arts.pdf
IN-PRACTICE RESOURCE
https://starcatchers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Digital-Voice-of-the-Baby-in-Practice-resources-June2024.pdf
